


Better Left Forgotten

by IChallengeMyFate (Ealdremen)



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-12 05:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3345995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ealdremen/pseuds/IChallengeMyFate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the dark of the night, a particular amnesiac among the Shepherds struggles to piece together the fragments of her past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Left Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on ichallengemyfate.tumblr.com.

Somewhere in a desert kingdom once ruled by an insane king, there had been a ruler of another country standing high atop a rocky outcropping that almost looked like the skull of a dragon. Dozens of archers trained their bows on her. Though she was slated to be executed by the mad king, she had a country that wanted nothing more than to protect her. Her own brother was prepared to bargain the future’s safekeeping in return for her life.

But the ruler held too much love in her heart. It only hastened her plummet when she stepped off the edge to spare her brother the burden of choice.

Hundreds of eyes had watched that ruler as she fell to the ground. Hundreds of ears had caught the sound of the body hitting the stones below. And hundreds of soldiers had deserted their mad king that day. The war ended with the mad king’s death, and the ruler’s brother ascended the throne in her place.

It was a story she had heard many times before from the other kidnapped victims of the Grimleal, but she remembered it a bit differently.

Whenever this scene played out in her dreams, Emmeryn saw the ground rushing up to meet her. The dream would always cut off just before the impact, and she would awaken with a start, just as she did now. Panting, Emmeryn held her hand to her forehead. Even though the night was cold, she was sweating as if…

…as if she were in a desert.

Images from the dream flashed through her mind, and a shudder ran down her spine. She traced the mark on her forehead. It was the same brand that Chrom had on his arm, though they often covered hers in some manner to avoid drawing attention when they visited towns and cities. Emmeryn had never argued doing it, but she hadn’t thought on _why_ they insisted she keep a low profile, either.

Unless…

“That… was… me..?” The words slipped unbidden from her mouth.

“Emm?” Lissa’s groggy voice brought her out of her trance.

She glanced over. Lissa was sitting up in her bedroll, her hair in disarray from troubled sleep. Emmeryn closed her eyes, but the image of Lissa’s concerned face burned into her memory, chasing away whatever lost fragments she had been on the verge of recalling. She shook her head.

“Nothing…”

“Did you remember something?” There was a brightness in her eyes that seemed almost familiar.

Emmeryn stayed silent, but she _did_ remember something. In her dream, as she did whenever she saw this scene, she had heard something in particular – the screams of two people crying out for an impossible miracle. One was a man, and the other was a young woman. Emmeryn clutched at the fabric of her robe. That girl she heard scream her name…

Her eyes widened.

It was _her._ It had been Lissa.

The pieces were falling into place. Her head ached as it never had before, but she was too close to an epiphany to surrender now.

When they had first met, or at least met for the first time Emmeryn could remember, Chrom and Lissa had explained that she was their sister, an easy truth to believe given the shared brand. But never before had she thought on why Chrom was the current ruler. She had apparently been exalt once, but nobody had told her why she was exalt no longer.

Perhaps it was because she had died, just as the beloved ruler had in the story.

The notion carried with it a sense of dread. But everything made sense; the Shepherds who apparently had known her before she lost her memory had often told her that Chrom wished he didn’t have to rule. Why else would a man reluctant to take the throne be the current exalt?

So, the brother in the story – the man who had so desperately wanted to save his sister… had been Chrom. He had been there, and so had Lissa.

The two screams she had heard in that desert were her own brother and sister watching her plummet to her death.

It was no wonder they had reacted with such shock when they found her again. How many times had they relived that grisly memory in their own nightmares? How many times had they wished they could change the past and save her life, only to realize that there was nothing they could do?

Emmeryn looked at Lissa’s face, and she felt a pang of loneliness. Reclaiming her memories was the only way she could rebuild her life. As it was now, she was aimless, just going along with whatever the Shepherds did or told her to do. When the war ended, what would she do? She couldn’t live with Chrom or Lissa in the halidom’s capital. She was supposed to be _dead._

“Emm, are you alright?”

The pain turned to concern – and somehow, this same worry for her sister felt familiar. Emmeryn swallowed, and she shook her head again. Staring blankly up ahead, she fell back onto her bedroll. Feigning rubbing sleep from her eyes, Emmeryn wiped away the tears.

“It’s… nothing.”


End file.
